xenogears_review

Overall:
It's a really cool game. It does many things extremely well. The story sells this game, and although it's intense to follow at times, it feels like the investment pays off. The engine and how this game presents itself through walking around, sense of scale, and the cool cutscenes with Gears, it's very unique and good. Battles are overall much too basic for me.

Disc 1 is A+. Disc 2 starts off horribly and it barely recovers by the end (but it does). This is why you let developer teams finish their games. It's really a tragedy, because if Disc 2 was anything like Disc 1, I think even with a basic-sh combat system it would have been one of the better games I've ever played.

I went in knowing a little about this game and some random things here & there. I'm glad I played this offline - I think unless you are super into the story as a viewer, it's not the greatest watch. Most of combat wouldn't be very interesting to watch


Story:
It's really such a cool story. Within the first 2 hours you're playing as who starts out as a pretty standard protagonist, but clearly there are so many small little weird things like how Fei already knew Elly's name before meeting her. The overall jist of the plot, as I understand it, is that Deus, with Zohar as its boundless energy source, lands on the planet 10,000 years before present, then disconnects from the Zohar Modifier to eventually repair itself and continue on as an universal invasion ("Yabeh" according to my notes). Deus shuts down and begins creating humans to build the systems to repair itself. Fei's first incarnation coming in contact with the Existence that is trapped within the Zohar Modifier, and begins the chain of events with Elly and Miang. I followed most of the plot, though I had to go back through my notes now and then. There are some question marks but overall I got it. You second guess who are the bad guys the majority of the game. I chalk it up to Disc 2 being what it is, but the end of the game feels like they didn't quite hit home on who the enemy really was the whole time. Ultimately it's Deus with how Deus affects their planet, though the Wave Existence clearly has no allegiance to their planet. But between the Gazel Ministry and Krelian it feels a little bit empty to want to pursue them as the player. I never really got the sense of whether or not Cain was a good or bad guy, but clearly Krelian manipulating Ramsus to destroy him makes Krelian out to be a worse guy.

This game does a really incredible job (in Disc 1, major caveat) of making cutscenes and interactions between characters and major story points feel unique and effort put into them. They really go all out consistently throughout the game with some of these cutscenes. There are a ton of games I've played where there's a lot of effort in the early cutscenes to make you hooked, then they fall off steeply in the mid game, then come back a bit in the late game. In Disc 1, that is extremely not the case- everything from crawling the desert in Aveh, heading towards Nisan, then being stuck in Kislev, then going through Tower of Babel to Shevat, then eventually Solaris, there are tons of cool cutscenes that have varying degrees of different things, like the deep dives they do into Grahf and Id. Disc 2 however completely throws that out the window at the start. Raiding Merkava core cutscene is cool though, with Yggdrasil IV/Excalibur.

Grahf and Id being threats throughout the overall story is just like, the coolest kind of writing. You learn more and more about them, but they are mostly shrouded in mystery and they show up at interesting times. The cutscenes with Grahf that play after fighting Vanderkaum in the desert are just so sick. Id completely destroying Solaris also rules. I felt like Diabolos was underexplored in Disc 2- I was following the cutscenes of Lacan turning into Grahf, but the whole war 500 years ago, I couldn't follow really who was the enemy of what. I didn't exactly follow how Karen turning into Miang to experiment on small Fei was beneficial to Miang's plan to revive Deus. I understand how Id manifested as part of the experiments, but Grahf and Id eventually being connected through reincarnated lines somewhat makes sense. But Id talks in the cutscene with Citan in Solaris that he has been around for a long time and has seen many incarnations of Fei already, so it didn't appear to me like Karen's experiments was the start of Id. I could probably just read up on these answers somewhere, but I also wouldn't be surprised if some (not all) of this stuff is just missing in Disc 2.

Disc 2's start is one of the worst in all games I've played. The immediate tone shift to VN style storytelling, where they clearly just didn't develop parts of the game and instead tell you about it. At the very least the story is consistent and they didn't just skip it, but it also sucks, and the parts you do play at the beginning of Disc 2 just feel like hallways to get you to the 2 Animus Relics for Billy/Rico. One of the few things I straight up did not understand on this playthrough was why we sent nanomachines into the air at the beginning of Disc 2 (and by 'we did it', I mean, a VN style lore dump told us we did it). Krelian later used it to be a virus to turn people into Wels. I must have missed a textbox or something. Disc 2 is an actual game again after you get to the Snowfield Hideout but until then, it's just terrible.

This game's world map is one of the least interesting to explore I feel. Most games this size & scale have a pretty fun world map, but I felt like there was almost no reason to go around and explore it. You just follow the story points. I think it is again a Disc 2 development problem, and would've been fine if the later half of the game gave you things to check out.

The way the Omnigears were handed out/unveiled felt pretty arbitrary to me after awhile, almost like convenient plot points. I did not at all follow the uncovering of Animus Relics and the order in which they became found & utilized. Especially in Disc 2, it feels like you just sorta go find them for the sake of upgrading Billy/Rico's gears. Also there are quite a few times where it straight up doesn't make sense how gears get around. In the Tower of Babel, you get off your gear, go up a gigantic elevator, then you get off and are on your gear again. You never show the ability to like, summon your gear, but obviously they can fly around and you see a cutscene where Weltall is summoned to Fei/Id later. But if they can fly around, why do you have to traverse most dungeons on foot by Gear..?

You really feel the Squaresoft story beats from Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy 6/7 in this game. It was just that era. The euphemisms and interpretations about what God is (divine creator? manmade overlord? or intergalactic alien?) and how we must destroy God. So many games seem to come to this idea

I think this game must have been insane to try to localize. You could tell there were some things that were either missing or didn't make sense, but overall I think they did a good job, given the absolute enormous task it is to try to localize a story like this, especially back then. It's a lot of information but it's parse-able. Maybe a few too many capital words being thrown around

Also Soylent Green just made me laugh man. I got your reference guys. ???

Main Characters:
Fei - He's alright. He has good moments, but it feels like he's sorta the standard good guy who discovers what to fight for trope. His biggest twists have to do with his personality obviously. But IMO he doesn't have a ton of unique & badass moments himself.
Elly - Kinda the same as above. Her struggles are good and they do a good job making her a sensitive female warrior, without beating it into your head.
Citan - Amazing character. The entirety of the game has you guessing over who he is and how he knows what he does. He's the ultimate ally and his role in the Solaris arc is excellent
Bart - Great. I like how he comes and goes with how important to the story he is. He takes a backseat while characters like Billy & Maria are introduced, but then the plot lets him shine when you go to liberate Aveh
Rico - I like him a lot. But he is definitely underdeveloped. The Kislev arc is pretty fun in this game to me (except for the second half of the sewers). I feel like they just didn't integrate him into the plot like the others, and everything about Sigmund and the data collection just kinda becomes irrelevant. Bart got his 2.0 story arc and Rico never did.
Billy - Probably my favorite of the cast. He's a younger guy but his supporting cast is great. I think my favorite dialogue in the game is Jesiah telling Billy to find God within himself and to trust his judgment.
Maria - Cool character, and learning about Balthasar, Nikolai and her is great. She leads the Shevat section well. Despite appearing late in the story, this game does good on making her still feel important. Her gear is super OP for a while too
Chu-Chu - Chu-Chu rising up at the end of Shevat is just awesome.
Emeralda - Emeralda joining in Disc 2 is super weird to me, she just sorta pops up in your party. But I really like how Disc 1 introduces her and how you can get her to grow up later. Her battle animations are funky & awesome.

My main party was Fei/Rico/Billy until Emeralda came along, then it was Fei/Billy/Emeralda




Mechanics:
This game's movement & event engine has this weird like, loosey goosey feel to it. But I also never encountered a messed up interaction while moving around like I would have expected. The way encounters queue up always felt kinda weird, I don't know how to describe it. Everything felt kind of synchronous and asynchronous.

Battles are way, way too simple. The majority of Disc 1 is just choosing your strongest attack over and over. Battles (both regular & bosses) often are, use your strongest deathblow, sometimes heal, that's it. Gear battles come down (at least for me) of using a weak attack to get your Attack level up, then either doing a combo or a deathblow. And there really wasn't any reason for me to deviate. I am sure there's some decent Ether setups out there but it never felt worth figuring out to me. Near the end of Disc 1 and all of Disc 2, you definitely start getting way more options, but they often felt like they didn't matter much. It usually comes down to upgrading your Gears to max equippables, occasionally put on some contextual accessories, and you're good. Regular battles never really felt interesting to me- Ether mechanics are barely explained, and although Deathblows is a cool system, without any real descriptions or understanding of which Deathblow does what, you just use the most powerful one over and over until you get punished on an elemental absorb or something, then you switch.

Hardest fight in the game was Shakhan for me probably, which I would imagine is pretty common. I encountered Deus 1 repeatedly softlocking my game and looked up that it was not just me. The fight against the 5 enemy units then with Elly during the Kislev/Gebler invasion was also kinda hard, since that was before you get to heal your Gear frame in combat. Otherwise the game felt way easy. The end of the game was a joke at Lv70, though I grinded at the end to afford stuff from Big Joe's shop in the Lighthouse area, and getting some Speed Shoes

Graphics/Presentation:
The way the game renders is super cool to me. The freeform camera and the way each area has a very 3D Z-level scale is awesome.

The sense of scale in this game is perfect. They do such a good job making you feel big in your gear, and small out of it. But it's all contextual and it always feels just right.

The gear models look fantastic in this game. Even basic gear enemies have pretty intricate designs.

Love an anime cutscene

Music is super good and it fits the mood almost all the time. I commented below but when you first get to the world map and hear the music, it's a unique thing from this era. However I felt like the world map theme stopped fitting the feel/theme of the game after awhile?




Everything from here below are just random notes I took. There's a combination of me writing down literally what they say so I could understand it later, and some reactions

=====================


Continent Ignas, kislev in the north, south desert kingdom Aveh, 200 year war

Ethos, institution that preserves world culture, repairs discoveries in order to increase military power

Mysterious force Gebler makes its appearance, contacts Aveh, they both gain upper hand on Kislev

Lahan, outskirts of Aveh, near border with Kislev

Who is Fei fighting at the beginning? Who is Citan?

Fei, 3 years in village, stranged masked man brought him here in blood. Constantly called out for Father

The 3D view through Citan's telescope is awesome

What the hell is Citan talking about with this music and someone living inside of Fei

Who's in the mech? Why/how does Fei climb in? How'd this mech get here for him to pilot?

Citan saying if 'he' awakens? "Fei is bound by the dark cruel destiny of god"

Holy crap Fei exploded

There really is nothing like the first time in a PSX game you get to the world map and the music starts playing. One of the most unique things out there

Surface dwellers, -Lambs-

Elly?? How does he know. "Somehow I already 'knew' that"

Elly's out of control. Also is this Valkyrie's VA?

Nil bayer dars legus!? (Citan talking to Elly in a different language). Even if Citan knows who she is and is part of the "military", what's with the language. Also what is this about -Abel- and the -Lambs-. Citan says "Exactly" to this too.

Elly trained at Jugend

Citan saying a quote of "Even I used to worry" - what the hell is going on in between these two

Special forces from the Sacred Empire of Solaris known as Gebler

Fei just stole this MFers bike

How did Citan get Weltall into the desert?

Grahf, seeker of power, sent Gears into Lahan ("that land") to make contact with Fei

"That sounds like something 'you' would say" ??

Destroy God!!!!

Grahf, Fei's father, and red hair guy in anime cutscene. "I'll never let you have him"

Citan saying "(It was him!)" about Grahf, approaching -Time- of the -Gospel-. Emperor!? "We are the people expelled from paradise" We the Gazel, must find god's resting place by then and resurrect him. Our final prayer to escape the -Fate- that was determined at our genesis. Citan calls him majesty..?

I thought Weltall was not functional, idk how it became functional after their ship gets shot down

Oh my god Sigurd is back

Citan is "Hyuga"

Old man Balthasar. 10,000 years humans start appearing, none before that. Humans and god lived together in a paradise in the sky. Humans ate forbidden fruit, gave wisdom, god drove mankind from paradise. Humans made giants, challenged god, lost. God was injured, buried himself deep beneath the ocean. God created right-hearted humans

A Gear's strength changes with the parts equipped and how the pilot handles it. Engine, attack power & fuel capacity goes up. HP depends on the Frame and Defense Ability on the Armor equipped. Use Charge to replenish fuel and defend. When fighting strong enemy, use Booster to increase mobility and power.

This boss in the cave was way, way harder than the rest of the game so far. Had to experiment with Charge/Booster a few times

Franz hooking me up with the "hot sounds"!!

The Great Mother Marguerite of Nisan is Bart's cousin, who is captured by Shakhan. Shakhan is after treasure, which the Fatima Jasper will give clues about

Am I crazy..? Why are Omegasols so cheap?

Gebler is also looking for the Fatima Jasper

Broyer, Vance, Helmholz, Stratski, Renk. 5 Gebler forces, one single unidentified gear

Citan fought in a gear 5 years ago.

Citan after fighting Broyer "They must be using 'that stuff'" -Drive-, battle drugs

LFG Fei

Deurmods, standard pirate Gears

Commander Ramsus, Miang. Shakhan discovered 500 year old gear that Ramsus calls him out on, and later Shakhan grumbles over Ramsus knowing about it somehow via "leak".

Bartweiser Lite Lmao.....

Mystery Man knew Fei's name before the tournament

I kind of figured you shouldn't fight back against Dan but... I was not expecting both him to Hadoken my ass, and then "Got back Alice's Wedding Dress" to appear. ????

The rewriting history room is super good

"Miang, could the [Fatima Jasper] possibly be a Relic?"

Ramsus says he knows how Fei fought in the pass. Red hair guy is back in a flashback? "If it's him, I am a reject" -- Ramsus

It's lukewarm...

Kahran Ramsus of the Holy Solaris Empire's Special Foreign Affairs Agency

Citan to Sigurd - You and I, called 'Elements', trained at 'Jugend'. Miang is apparently an 'Element'. Sigurd doesn't want to tell Bart 'something' until he knows Solaris' objectives

One winged angel is back!! Two one winged angel, one male, one female

The painting of Sophia was not finished near completion. Lacan!? What

Etrenak, the capital of Solaris, in the skies. Solaris is separated from the land by dimension distortion fields known as Gates

Ramsus goal was to achieve unification of his colleagues. Sigurd and Citan supported him for awhile

Ramsus and Miang casually in bed together while the red hair guy whoops ass and Grahf looks over while a red Gear comes down, holy crap

Miang talking to Grahf, saying that Miang used the influence of the Ministry to set up the Masked Man in the tournament

Elly's -Drive- face for the first time fighting Fei is so unsettling WTF

I was not at all expecting Vanderkaum to be given extra power by Grahf at all

Sigurd's own dialogue makes it sound like he was just with Ramsus to steal something then bail

The Demon of Elru, Grahf

This cutscene in the desert after fighting Vanderkaum is insanely good

Citan really just shows up in Kislev somehow. This guy is something else. Removing the collar and getting faked out and back in time, there's some dev smiling out there

Well I GUESS we're just moving from Kislev to this giant floating thing with a black background and some guys in hoods. ?!?

According to the memory cube, 'he' is currently in Nortune, Imperial capital of Kislev. If only 'he' did not exist, the Lambs would not have been turned into the 'Animus'. It has been 500 years since our fall in the 'Days of Destruction' that 'he' caused. The excavation of the 'Anima' Relics. "Even Cain would not object". We can't use the "Gaetia Key", not until the proper time. Huge nuke incoming?

I was NOT expecting 3D mech battler arc as a mechanic holy crap

That was truly, in all aspects, a sewer level for the ages. I looked up a detailed map and have no regrets.

Khan (Ramsus) and Masked Man were students together. Father's name is Khan Wong

Floating city, "as if to conceal their failure. That is Shevat. Your father's country."

Dominia trained with Elly. The Elements, the Elite among the Elite

Some black winged gear saved Elly?

Hammer talks to Elly privately, awkwardly?

Ramsus: "Could it be Shevat's Aphel Aura?" (gatekeeper in Lahan region)

Miang to Grahf - Now you know the vessel will only respond to the chosen one. He's necessary for Kahr, the meaning of his existence.

4 cloaked guys, talking about Grahf with fear - "We've found multiple subjects around 'him' that posses the 'Animus' factor". Is it -Sufradi- the subject of the M project? "Yes." For over 4000 years he searched for Zeboim's legacy, the technology he was talking about, nanotechnology. (Now Emperor speaking) The land of all creations, the capital of Zeboim culture, resting beneath ocean of Aquvy, kept secret for 19 years.

Cloaked guys, to Cain - "Anonelbe" - you don't still believe that do you?

Shevat is a country outside the reach of Solaris

Citan says to himself that the people who made the Yggdrasil (from Shevat) may be closer than Bart thinks

The Tower of Babel, the Reapers called Wels come from there

Why does Ramsus ask what happened to Fei's 'other' gear?

Etone, those of sin, come from 'Ethos'. Religious people who cleanse the 'Reapers' (Wels) that appear in Aquvy

The story arc where the main character goes into a coma and the girl helps him out of it.. where have I seen this before..

People who built Babel Towel were so afraid of god's revenge, and went to Shevat, the house of sinning hermits

Billy, related to Racquel. Orphanage Gear reveal is sick

At the bottom of Ethos, a Solarian lab shows that Bishop Shakhan of the Diocese was monitoring number of gears on Kislev vs Aveh

"The Ethos is really a subsidiary organization of Solaris. 500 years ago, there was a great war that occurred between Solaris and the land dwellers. Not clear on the outcome, but afterwards Solaris feared land dweller revolt. Solaris built a Gate (barrier) that separates them from everything else. Land dwellers on Solaris stayed on Solaris. Ethos is controlled by the Gazel Ministry, Solaris' highest governmental body"

The 44th Salvage plan, initiated solely by Ethos itself. Commenced 19 years ago. Completed investigation of Zeboim city, which sank 4000  years ago. After 100 test digs, city center found. under Aquvy lies ancient civilization. Citan says: My assessment is that Ethos is trying to break away from Solaris, and once it does, it will try its own hand at world domination

Damn they really go hard on the priests being bad guys and that religion is all extremely made up

Gotta figure out what's up with the Reapers and why Billy has/hasn't been 'saving' them

Cloaked guys: Krelian is rather exhorbitant. It's only a molecular machine (talking about this giant thing that looks like the Walcuray). Why is he placing so much importance in it?

Krelian: Wels, test subjects

Miang talks to Grahf about 'he' awakening after 4000 years

This nanomachine girl is 'salvation of humanity' (Bishop STone)

Your 'Gin n'tonic Futon Brain' cyborg inplants sure make you smart!

Tolone & Seraphita are my favorite

What the hell is this Fei flashback with him in a lab with nanomachine girl

Red hair guy!!! Saying the nanomachine girl belongs to him. Id. Good name

Something is clearly up with Fei disappearing with his Gear all messed up and the red hair guy

'Guns' don't kill people. 'People' kill people. Jessie's dialogue to his son about finding God within himself is very good

Citan has a daughter apparently

Jessie, talking about the Malakh (M) Plan under Krelian. Wels were the test subjects. Head scientist put his findings in a Gear and fled with his daughter. Jessie says they may be in Shevat. Nikolai and Maria

Krelian, to the cloaked guys - "You lost that flesh long ago, and now reside in the SOL-9000 as data."

How did we step off our Gears, take a giant vertical train ride up the Tower of Babel, then just magically get back on our gears?

Cloaked guys, on entering Shevat: Easy, we just use Achtzehn's gravity cannon to compensate for the time-space warp

Ooooh.. so the old man in the cave was this scientist's father and Maria was the girl from Shevat

Floating city... good music... a Queen with a Z name.. hmm

Diabolos, sudden mysterious army 500 years ago. Their only intention was to eradicate all life

The Omnigears - one of them in Aveh royal family

In order to resist the power of god, they created twelve Anima Relics and called themselves gods. Mahanon, original homeland of all life. The merging of an Anima Relic and a gear creates an Omnigear

Seibzehn is Maria's gear, prototype of nanotech human integration of gear. Achtzehn is big red gear, also made by Balthasar.

Holy fuuuuuck Chu Chu is rising up

Wiseman talks to Queen Zephyr. She says that Sophia is part of Elly. Then Zephyr says she's sorry, as if it was something sensitive. Wiseman says it's fine, because "I'm not 'him'"

Citan says "Remember how Elly and the Omnigear moved in Shevat" while Bart is trying to figure out his Omnigear. But... what?

Shakhan fight was definitely difficult. When I saw this boss I went OHH because I went into cha0s stream once and remember seeing this guy, and having absolutely no idea what was happening, but that it was a struggle. I had to mess around with equipment a few times. Honestly this was the first fight that felt like a wall in the whole game. I had died before on some fights but usually 2nd tried the rest.

Krelian, talking about 'the mother', existing among the lambs, emerging at a certain age, and "a high probability that she transmigrated into the 'Antitype'". The woman from Nisan? (cloak guy says). Nano prototype Emeralda

After all she is your daughter!? Kim?

This Solaris ticket ceremony is sick.

Now Lacan again. What the

Soylent System!? Some kind of experiment huh..

When Fei goes to Elly's house and Elly's Mom asks who he is, Elly first has an answer that she made up, then when Elly's Mom presses a little bit more she's like "uhh.. gotta go" and it's very endearing

Citan being able to pass through the ID gates.. sus

Soylent Green!! Why is it in this game!! Also why the hell did Citan let them eat it

Elly grilling Citan while he shuts all the lights off, then you're put into a Matrix-ass room, holy crap

It's very funny (?) to me that they baked in memory cubes (save points) as being surveillance by Solaris

Cloaked guys "The creation of the angel Malakh. The M project was for that very purpose"

The Urobolus Ring. Explains Miang and Lacan's actions ??? The Ring has information about Elhaym (Elly), and Krelian wants to find it out

Was Citan.. drawing out Id?

That's sick watching Weltall transform into Red version like that. It all adds up with Fei and Id, the times when Id appears is when Fei is missing. And he just fkn lights up Solaris entirely. Sick

Fei, Id, is called the Contact. Citan talking to Cain, "Anonelbe", is his conclusion. The long awaited man of god, who will take the people borin in this world with him to a new horizon. Cain talks about him atoning for his sin. Id worked with Grahf as an assassin before going to Lahan. Elru was then completely obliterated (Dominia's homeland). Grahf provokes Fei to become Id to destroy God. Fei's father somehow sealed Id

It is obvious that there exists a third personality. Id calls this existence the coward. The coward controls Id's manifestation

Grahf manipulated Diabolos into destroying this world. Freeze Id in carbonite..

Fei: It seems Grahf used to be a land dweller named Lacan

Taura, talking to ghost of Grahf, calling him Lacan?

Ministry: A 'mother' exists as an 'Antitype' who is not Elly

DISC 2

Both Fei and Elly say that they existed as Lacan/Sophia and "countless other lives"

Something is kinda weird at the beginning of Disc 2. Why am I getting a VN style flashback about going to Zeboim? Why not just.. do it? I also don't totally understand why we're spreading nanomachines into the air.

Yeah. This must be the rushed development arc. It's a very odd change of pace from the rest of the game. In a matter of minutes we liberated and unified Ignas

OK, so Soylent system, with the new virus, is all of the Ministry's goal to sacrifice people to create their god, the Angel they talked about

The fight against four Elements is cool. Diggin this combined mech trope.

Oh. Miang is 'the mother'. The 'Antitype'. What a reveal. Just sorta happening now.

First they said there were 5 out of 10 Anima Relics in the hands of the Gazel Ministry. Then they said we went to find one of them. Now the game says we're searching for the last known Anima Relic. ??

Ramsus was created to integrate with all Anima Relics, to be the equivalent of Cain

Ramsus and Cain sure looking like Zero and Omega right now

It SURE seems like Billy's gear getting upgraded is a convenient plot point with the Anima Relic (which I don't really even know what an Anima Relic looks like/is), so that everyone gets their final upgraded gear

Dan, Joseph, Gad.

Hyuga's Asher
Ramsus' Zebulun
Krelian's Judah
Sophia's Dinah

Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Issachar were already aligned 500 years ago.

And finally Grahf's Naphtali, all of the Anima Relics are activated. The identity of the -Persona- mask of the 'mother' has also become clear.

Bart jumping on the table and telling Fei how to handle a woman is awesome

Aliens, 10000 yearsa go, Razael's Tree, lied in Mahanon

Deus froze up on me a few times. More evidence of untested gameplay. What a terrible fight. It's both glitchy and bad

'Yabeh' the inter-planetary invasion weapon system.

We were on the verge of accessing the data for the object called... Zohar, the central neural circuit and power source controlling the entire system, from weapons to mothership

Alpha Weltall!?

Krelian: In the land of Golgoda, collect all broken gears

Karen shows up in a flashback, says her child Fei is the Contact, and that an Antitype is out there too. They mock Ramsus in the test tube

What the fk is this Ramsus gear. He looked so cool before in gold. Lmao?

Zohar drives all energy for the Gears. Zohar Modifier has the ability to produce infinite amounts of energy. The core of Deus detached from Zohar, the Biological Computer Kadomony, crashed onto this planet. Persona, its life support system. Humans were created, Emperor Cain and the Gazel, from Deus. Female were Anima, male were Animus, parts of Deus itself. The goal to resurrect god was to combine Anima with Animus again. All humans are descendants of Gazel and Cain

Elly, saying I am Miang. The keeper of time. Representative of our god Deus. ?? Miang's factor exists within all women. When the previous one dies, it awakens in another (right after Ramsus kills the last Miang)

OK this arc of leaving Merkava core and Fei just going missing (as if I'm not playing the main character as Fei) and he's now in Carbonite is extremely stupid and bad storytelling. It's not the fact that it happened. It's bad because of how it is delivered.

500 years ago, Krelian's motivation was to create god was after Sophia, who he followed under Nisan, was killed when she suicide attacked Solaris.

Lacan, resented himself for not having power, began searching for Legendary Power (presumably Grahf now)

As I watch these cutscenes, I wonder how & why Grahf and the old Miang were aligned

It was pretty obvious that Wiseman was Khan. He kept saying he trained with Fei's father, but that was really it.

The cutscenes where you see Fei being experimented on, you can tell it's the same rooms you see in Krelian's lab. Very good

Fei interacting with (presumably) the Existence is real good. Zohar and Deus's use of it caused: "Requiring energy, the engine connected this dimension to the higher dimensional space. As a result, that reacter merged with the wave existence.. that higher dimension, ME" "I became bound in Zohar" (after being brought down to this dimension). This is the purpose of the Contact? For Fei to contact the existence to free it from Zohar.

After Fei became the contact... "As a contact, being but only a child, you defined my existences with your desire to return to your mother. Thus I came to prepare the mother's will... That will is Elhaym."

"I was split by your contact. My physical form or flesh stayed in Zohar, while my will went into Elhaym and my power went into you. That's what I waited to unite with you. And now, it is fulfilled." "I must become perfect by comining with Elhaym, as well as my other split physical form, Deus." "Zohar can only be destroyed by the hands of the 'Contact'"

Wow I really did not think Khan, Wiseman AND Grahf AND Lacan were all the same guy

Elly, the Subject, and Miang, the Complement. Fei, was the sole survivor, and met Elly, and "Everything started from there."

Going to the Lighthouse area, I find it really weird that there's some fleshed out dungeons and cutscenes for this, when the majority of Disc 2 is just VN style storytelling. Why would they choose to develop this kind of side dungeon instead?

I completely stomped Deus and the 4 guardians. Big Joe's shop is OP

Bart's dialogue to Fei to tell him "go get him" owns

Urubolus was a joke

Ending is good.

Episode V The End... lmao...